The Language of Silence
by NitnatRide
Summary: Hige's sister joins the adventure with Kiba and Hige in the jail cell in Freeze City. One thing; she's a voluntary mute. Silence makes for a good listener though, and maybe that's just what Kiba needs. Someone to appreciate silence as he does. Kiba/OC
1. How It All Starts

**Chapter 1: How it all starts**

**Hige's POV**

So joining Kiba in the jail cell by sneaking in with more idiots seemed like a good idea at the time; at least with him I'd have more of a chance of finding something interesting. But, man, I thought at least there'd be an interesting fight going on or something, or at least some decent food. But there's nothing, and I'm subjected to sitting here in silence – Kiba doesn't seem one for small talk – _**waiting**_. Waiting for something – _**anything**_ – different or interesting to happen.

I glance up hopefully as the doors are opened again, letting more people through. I'm about to turn back to the damn wall that I've been examining for the past half-hour when a scent pricks my ears and curiosity up. Taking another sniff, I curse the dryness in my nose that stopped me from smelling her earlier. I try not to groan out loud as she's let into the cell. She looks ordinary enough, fitting in among the humans. With her tousles touching around halfway down her chest, as deep and rich a brown as some of the mountain trees I've seen, and eyes to match the green of their leaves in high summer, she'd only gain attention from the humans because of her better-than-average looks. They would also see her relaxed stance as she walks in, her baggy light jeans nearly touching the floor over her white sneakers, her hands in the pockets of her open black hoodie over her dark pink top.

Only Kiba and I can "see" the late adolescent wolf with a thick coat the colour of her hair in human form.

_When I said I wanted something interesting to happen, I didn't mean this._

Without a word, she walks over and takes a seat next to me, her hands still in her pockets as she stretches one leg out, keeping the other bent and pointing up. Then silence. Not even a 'hi'. Then again, she wouldn't; not with Kiba here.

I can feel Kiba's gaze on her, curious and slightly bemused, and I grimace.

"You didn't need to follow me in here, Niki," I say quietly, not looking at her. "I would have come for you once we got out."

She shrugs, undisturbed. She turns to look at me, holds my gaze for a few seconds, then meets Kiba's eyes for a surprisingly long time, knowing her. I recognise my cue.

"Kiba, this is my sister, Nikina or Niki," I gesture to her. "Niki, Kiba."

"Hi," Kiba greets her, giving a small smile.

Niki's lips slowly turn up at the corners, and she nods to him. Then she settles against the wall, closing her eyes and pretending to sleep – she won't sleep or she'll show her wolf form to the humans.

I turn back to Kiba and try to straighten out his obvious confusion.

"Don't be offended if she doesn't talk to you for a while," I say, knowing that Niki can hear but not being able to do anything about it.

"My sister has trust issues," I continue, "and talking, to her, is opening up pretty big. Give her maybe two weeks in your company and she'll trust you enough to talk with you. She gave you a smile though, so that's a good start compared to some people."

Kiba looks to her for a few seconds before nodding. "Okay, then. I'll try not to mess up and do something that makes her hate me until then."

Something trembling to my right makes me turn back to my sister, and I soon realise the shaking is her, laughing silently even as she can't hold in her grin. Her closest eye opens, swivelling to focus on Kiba, who has another small, surprised smirk on his face. Niki raises her eyebrows at him before resuming her previous position, a faint smile remaining on her lips.

I relay Kiba's plan with Cheza to Niki, then we listen to the mumbles and grumbles of the humans until the guards come and give us all blankets, and Niki, Kiba and I all lie down and pretend to sleep like good little prisoners. Once under the cover of the blankets, Niki gestures for me to get Kiba's attention, and I poke him so he turns to face her over my back. Niki throws us both a wink – or maybe it's just directed at Kiba – before removing part of her hand from her blanket and her hoodie pocket, letting what little light is in here glint off something metallic in her fist. After a few seconds, I identify it as a key, presumably for our cell.

"How did you get that?" I ask her, incredulous. She just shrugs in response, using body language to basically say 'I have my ways.'

"Couldn't we just force our way out?" I suggest. "Kiba did that with the cage they had him in yesterday."

Niki raises her eyebrow, then taps her teeth and gestures to the rest of the sleeping lumps in the cell. Almost as an afterthought, she cups her hand round her ear.

Luckily for me, I've had years of practice of decoding my sister's silent messages that she relays when she doesn't want to talk with someone present, and I translate for Kiba.

"She's got a point," I say, twisting around to face the other wolf. "If the guards only remember letting humans in here, it'll look suspicious if it looks like an animal broke out. Plus the noise it would make; someone in here is bound to wake up if we tear our way out."

Comprehension and agreement spark in Kiba's eyes, and he turns back to Niki.

"That's really good thinking," he compliments her.

She shrugs then grins at him, flipping her eyebrows. I don't think he needs the translation of 'I'm not entirely useless'; he chuckles as he settles himself on his patch of floor and waits for whatever signal he's waiting for. I decide to join him with the whole waiting thing.

It's not like I have anything else more interesting to do.

ЖЖЖ

_**Finally**_, Kiba apparently gets some kind of signal that tells him it's time to bust out of here, and Niki deftly reaches through the bars and clicks the lock free with the key she took. As soon as we're out, she locks the humans in again, dropping the key on the floor as we head out, well out of reach of anything behind bars. Then, we book it.

I won't bore you with the details of the supposed-to-be-confusing twists and turns we take before we get outside. But the inside of the whole place is metal, I swear; everything looks so artificial, it's kind of offensive to a wolf.

In open air, my nose works better than it did in there, and I pick up that always-present flower scent, strong and up ahead. I don't need to tell Kiba and Niki; from the looks on their faces – especially Kiba's – they've smelt it too.

We sprint through the city, desperately trying to keep track of that smell, searching for its location, not caring if anyone sees us, if the guards know that we're the ones that have escaped and are after us. We just need to reach Cheza. We just need to find the Flower Maiden and Paradise will be the next stop for us. We just need to find Cheza and everything will be alright –.

We find her.

Atop a ledge above us is Cheza. Her skin is so beautifully pale and smooth, her body is covered by some weird suit that doesn't belong on her, and her light, light violet hair waves and ruffles in the slight breeze. Her eyes are closed, like she's sleeping…in the arms of the Noble-looking guy holding her.

His whole body, in comparison, is swathed in a cloak as black as a moonless sky, and his face is hidden behind a mask devoid of any expression. But somehow that makes it all the more menacing. My instincts scream at me: 'Bad man! Bad, evil man!'

"Wolves," he greets us, his voice drifting innocently down to us.

The three of us start. Niki grabs my hand and squeezes it for reassurance – 'how can he tell?' – and I grasp it right back.

_I don't know, Niki, and I don't like it either._

The Noble looks leisurely down at Cheza, then back at us, apparently undisturbed by our presence.

"I will see you in Paradise," he promises, and my spine tingles as some power builds up.

Kiba feels the power too, and darts forward closer to the ledge to do something – _**anything**_ – but Cheza suddenly wakes up, letting out the most anguished cry I've ever heard. Even more so than my sister's when we were younger. As I work not to cover my ears against the heart-wrenching sound, there's a flash, and the Noble disappears. With Cheza.

_**Damn**_ it.

**Kiba's POV**

No. _**No!**_

I want to scream. I want to howl at the top of my lungs and beat the floor. I want to collapse and cry under the weight of the cruelty; she was so _**close**_!

I want to do all those things, but all my body can manage is to stare at the spot I saw her, not moving and barely breathing. The spot seems to mock me, still glowing surreally from Cheza's presence.

_She was here. She was right here. And you missed her._

The outside world creeps into my senses again, and a harsh breathing reaches my ears. Slowly, I turn toward the source. Hige is there, his arms around the shoulders of a girl just a few inches shorter than him. Her left hand is clenched where the neckline of his jumper meets the hood, and her other hand clutches at where her heart is, her chest shaking with shallow breaths. Her human face, which any sensible creature could admire, is streaked with tears.

Cheza's cry; it must have affected Niki a lot.

As if she senses my eyes on her, she turns to me, scrubbing her face of the tear tracks as if she could erase their very existence, make it so I hadn't seen them.

Why is she so ashamed of crying? It means she was affected by the sadness of someone important to all wolves, and I don't see how that is a bad thing.

She slowly, reluctantly pulls away from her brother. Hige's face is tight, concerned as he examines her face, trying to meet her eyes to determine her well-being. She ignores his stares, directing her own at me. I search her eyes, both for comfort and in concern; I'm checking on her just like Hige is trying to do, but the sadness I find hidden deep there is empathetic. The knowledge that I am not alone is amazingly strengthening.

"We should…find somewhere to sleep for tonight," Hige says softly, breaking my moment of connection with his sister.

I nod in agreement, even as I remain where I am and turn back to the place where Cheza last was. My inner self insults my failure some more before I'm broken out of my spiral of self-deprecation; the soft pressure of a warm, gentle hand encircling my bare forearm just above my wrist. The summer-green of the mountain trees from my region meets my gaze, soothing that voice in my head, telling it to hush and leave me be.

Niki's eyes suddenly turn imploring, and she gestures to her brother – not moved from his position – with her head before nodding. A sentence: 'What he said is right.'

At first I'm confused; of course he's right, there's nowhere else for us to go now, and it only makes sense that we settle down for the night. But I stop myself mid-thought. Here is a girl who doesn't talk to new people until she trusts them fully. For one who initially uses words so scarcely, wouldn't it make sense for her to believe that every word counts? That every word means something, because it was said for a reason?

With this new theory, I replay in my mind exactly what Hige had suggested: 'We should find somewhere to sleep for tonight'. On second examination, I spot what Niki is referring to immediately.

"For tonight," I whisper to her, asking her for confirmation. Does she mean that, after tonight, once we are rested, we're leaving to search for Cheza beyond the city walls? Is she planning on joining me? And is her brother; did _**he**_ mean to use those words in the way of Niki's interpretation?

Relief floods her face at my comprehension, and she nods enthusiastically. Somehow noticing my question about her brother's inclusion in my – _**our**_ – new quest, she looks at him over her shoulder, probably making some kind of face that he interprets as a message; Hige grins at me, chuckling and nodding his head. Niki looks back at me, holding her free hand out to her brother before turning it in on herself, touching her chest before doing so with me: 'We're going together.'

At this new realisation – that others will be joining me, that I'm not travelling alone anymore – I can't help the smile from spreading across my face, and thank her using the first idea that comes to my head; I slide my wrist out of Niki's loose grip, replacing it with my hand instead and holding on to hers. She seems slightly startled by the action at first, then accepts it, grinning at me, and tugs on my hand back in the direction of her brother. As we level our distance with him, Hige takes his hands out of his pockets in his yellow hoodie, crouching slightly before taking off running with us, back the way we came.

"Do we actually have a plan as to where we can stay for the night?" Hige asks.

Niki looks sideways at him and grins, obviously having a place already in mind. She gently frees her hand from mine as she speeds up slightly, leading us now through the winding streets, and I simply enjoy the thrill of running, even if it is on two feet instead of four.

Eventually, Niki comes to quite a stylish stop, skidding sideways on her sneakers easily, making the move look effortless as she stops right beside a manhole-cover that she never takes her eyes off as she slows, bending down to lift it almost even before she's fully come to a halt. Placing the heavy piece of metal – which she surprisingly lifted with barely any strain – on the ground, she straightens up again and gestures to the entrance to the underground.

"Wait, the sewers?" Hige clarifies, horrified. "You never said anything about that. You know how sensitive my nose is, Niki, and I can't spend an entire night down in the stench-ville wasteland of the city. Especially not if you want me to get any sleep."

Niki sighs, then holds her hands out wide, encompassing the entire city in her arms: 'Where else could we stay?'

"You're sister's right, Hige," I support her decision. "I think we've stirred the city up enough on our own today; we sneaked in with prisoners, then broke out, then Cheza goes missing in the same night those happen. If any guards figure out it was us that escaped, conclusions could be drawn that it was us that stole her, and we'd be in trouble. The best chance is to lie-low for tonight. Literally."

By the end of my explanation, I'm crouched by the manhole, and as I finish I drop silently down onto the sewer floor several feet below and wait for the other two to follow.

I obviously can't say much for the decor; even with fancy words you can't do much to improve the interior of places like this. The stone beneath my feet is cold and slightly damp, no doubt with detritus juice from the sewer river flowing deceivingly gently to my left. There's very little light, spare the moon- and city-light from the surface still shining through the uncovered manhole, giving a bit more light to help my natural night-vision. The walls of the sewer tunnel are brick or stone, but again, cold to the touch, the chill seeping disgustingly through my T-shirt and black jacket as I foolishly rest my back against it. Realising my mistake too late, I grimace as I hear a sucking sound as I peel my back from the wall, my jacket retaining some of the slime from the wall. Carefully shrugging it off, I hold my jacket over the sewer river and shake it violently, only stopping and donning the garment again once I'm satisfied that all the slime has been dislodged; even in human form, my pride still has standards.

And, needless to say, I have never regretted my wolf-sharp sense of smell as much as I do now. I can't even describe the stink. Even if I could, I'd save your imagination by keeping the description to myself. But the artificiality of the smell – the tang of metal and other man-made products – is the biggest insult to the purely primal side in me, and I shudder as that urban odour hits me with every breath.

A shuffling sounds from the surface before Hige drops to the floor beside me. Almost immediately he grimaces.

"Oh, yuck!" he complains, his hand flying up to cover his nose. "Man, I'd take smelling the one wolf taking a dump than an entire city of humans taking one any day." His voice sounds odd now that he's pinching his nose together.

A slight clattering above makes Hige look up then move out of the way of the manhole entrance. I follow his gaze, and after a few seconds, Niki's body appears, jumping in the air from the surface, holding what I eventually make out to be the manhole cover in her right hand above her head. As her body descends perfectly aimed into the manhole, her left hand shoots out and grabs a pipe on the ceiling of the tunnel, swinging her body forward until she's almost horizontal against the ceiling. Keeping her right hand perfectly level throughout the manoeuvre, she gently lowers the manhole cover over the entrance and lets go of the pipe once the task is completed, righting herself before landing silently on her feet.

Despite my awkward and lengthy description, the movement flows perfectly and is over in less than three seconds. I can't help but stare, and she catches my obviously impressed look, grinning and flipping her eyebrows again. Then she dusts her hands off on her jeans before deftly skipping round me on the narrow walkway and walking off down the tunnel, quickly jumping over a few stray pipes.

"You're sister's quite the gymnast," I say quietly to Hige as I watch her whilst following, walking alongside her brother.

"Oh, yeah," he agrees. Pride is evident in his voice, even through his held nose. "She's the best wolf I've seen that's adapted to having two feet. She can even switch between them in the middle of tricks like that and make it look like the easiest thing in the world. She's even faster and more agile still in wolf form. Word of advice," he grins suddenly at me. "Don't challenge her to a race."

I have to grin back. I can just imagine the childhood of these two siblings; the main goal in the games was to beat Nikina at a race, and people, mainly boys, would line up ready to take their turn and have a shot at it, confident that they could beat her. Even Hige would have challenged her at least once, if not the most out of everyone. But Niki would always be victorious, and eventually the children would learn their lesson and realise she was their superior in that category.

Yet Niki doesn't seem like the kind of person to rub her successes in others' faces. I think she would have taken each victory with humility and congratulate her opponent on their efforts, possibly giving them gentle and friendly tips on how to improve.

Hmmm…I wonder how fast she really is…

"Niki, Kiba's thinking of challenging you to a race," Hige calls out, breaking me out of my reverie, and I turn to see him smirking at me from behind his hand, a knowing glint in his eyes.

Further ahead, his sister whirls back to us – yet another graceful move – with a huge smile on her face. Her eyes sparkle teasingly – God knows how they're sparkling when there's no light down here – and she races back to us, appearing in front of us in no time at all. She stands in front of me, several inches shorter than me in human form, and folds her arms, obviously waiting for a challenge.

I hold my hands up in defence. "Not yet," I chuckle. "We're both tired. And you have an unfair advantage down here; you obviously know the route, and I've only just come to the city. I'd have to follow you anyway."

She laughs at my point. Out loud. In the prison cell, she'd laughed silently, even though she was grinning. Now, I've actually heard her voice. It's…beautiful. Soft, gentle, soothing, unobtrusive, and happy. Bursting with infectious happiness that I can predict will make me smile in the darkest of times.

As she finishes brightening up the entire sewer tunnel, she gestures further up the tunnel with her head, and takes off at a jog. I grin at her friendly challenge, and pick up the pace to follow her through the winding tunnels.

Eventually she turns right and stops, our route blocked by vertical bars. The floor is higher up than the rest of the sewer, so there's no river running in the middle of the floor, which is covered in relatively dry strips of cardboard, probably obtained from previous boxes stacked among the ones already here. Obviously she has been sleeping here during some part of her stay in Freeze City. There should be enough room for all three of us, if we sleep quite close together, and the outside world is straight through those bars. If we need to make a quick escape from whatever may be following us through the sewer tunnels, we can easily chew our way through the bars. The fresh outside air coming in through the bars also gives our noses relief from the sewer stench, as well as bringing any scents from outside that would give us information about anything going on out there. Plus providing a marvellous view of the waning moon.

Niki walks nearer the bars, reaching behind one stack of boxes and pulling a large hunk of meat out from the hiding place. Beside me, Hige brightens up at the sight. Using her claws, Niki tears it into three more-or-less equal pieces, handing one to each of us. I notice that the one she keeps for herself is the smallest. We all sit down in our little alcove, Hige tearing into his food already. Niki watches her brother, shaking her head slightly even as she has a small, fond smile gracing her human face as she takes smaller bites of her own share. The taste of proper meat – rather than the crap Hige gave me in that thing he called a hotdog – makes my mouth water, and I smile at Niki, thanking her silently.

Apparently, Hige shares my gratitude. "Wow, that was great," he smiles, licking his fingers as he polishes off the last of his meal. "Where did you manage to find real meat?"

Niki looks out through the bars, and Hige and I follow her gaze. From here, we can just make out a railway line that runs into the city.

"You stole from the Nobles' food line?" Hige asks, incredulous, wide-eyed as he imagines the dangers to his sister's safety that she would have faced.

She shrugs, unconcerned but modest. She suddenly grins, reaching one hand behind her and pulling up her black hood to cover her head, stopping halfway down her forehead. Because of the colour, her top half blends in with the shadows perfectly while her pale face shines in the moonlight. I imagine that she must look like what humans would call a ghost, possibly menacing if one sees her teeth glinting in the light too.

Hige snorts. "Yeah, right, I forgot; you're too stealthy to be caught." The lightness of his sarcasms suggests that he is only half joking.

Niki pushes her hood back again, running a hand through her hair, presumably to smooth it down and neaten it but I fail to see how that was necessary. At that point, she brings her hand up to her mouth, but her attempt at hiding a yawn from her brother's sights is unsuccessful.

"Wait a second," Hige frowns, figuring something out. "You stayed awake all last night, but you were with us. You couldn't have got the meat then, and the meat definitely wasn't three days old. Have you stayed awake for three whole days?"

At her brother's tone, Niki at least has the sense not to try to shrug it off again, and rubs the back of her neck sheepishly, avoiding Hige's disapproving gaze.

"No wonder you're yawning; you must be exhausted," Hige scorns her. "C'mere."

He holds his arms open, gesturing with his hands that she come to him. She immediately shuffles over to him, snuggling closer as he draws her tight to him. They both manage to lie down, facing my direction and the direction of the outside through the bars even as they close their eyes.

"You should get some sleep, too, Kiba," Hige recommends.

I agree with him, but remain sitting up, looking down at the pair of them, bathed in silver light that makes them look like something holy. Their position, so loving and yet seemingly so natural to them – with Hige curved protectively around Niki, in both human form and wolf form – the obvious unity of their existence warms my very soul. Neither one of them has considered living without the other, and their love for each other is so obvious and instinctual it represents everything that's good in people these days.

Yes, that's it. The moon isn't highlighting the holiness of the individuals as such; more blessing and beaming in pride at their relationship, their love.

As a small bittersweet smile slowly creeps onto my face, I lie down, turning away from the wide-open sky to gaze in wonder at these wolves – at this display of affection – until sleep forces me to stop looking at them….

**Niki's POV**

_Laughter. Their horrible, arrogant snickers as they circle me, their tails coiling from side to side in anticipation, like snakes preparing for the strike. Their eyes glint in a hollow echo of the moon, only with none of the goodness in the sight, and their fangs drip saliva as they laugh at me._

Bad_, my young instincts scream. _Get away from them. Move!

_I glance around wildly. There must be some way to get out of this circle! My brother, off to the side somewhere, snarling. But he's so small in comparison to them. As am I. I can't fight. I have my speed, but then what if they catch me?_

_But I at least have to try._

_Feinting to the left, I then leap to the right, ducking under a gap between the intruders. But one of them is too fast, and I cry out as teeth bury themselves in my side, pinning me on the ground. The others laugh harder, grouping around me again. They bear down on me, while the first one holds me down –._

Just like now.

The difficulty to move immediately sparks my instincts, and I jump up, turning in midair to face the adversary, baring my fangs to attempt to look fearsome despite my heart hammering against my ribcage in my own fear. Breathing hard, I stare into the face of my brother, still sleeping, illuminated by a soft sunrise. My ears aren't filled with menacing snickers, but with gurgling and bubbling, from a sewer river by the smell of it. The artificiality of the smell tells me I'm not in the mountains anymore.

At that thought, and at the sight of my brother there, not panicking, I breathe a deep sigh of relief and annoyance. I still have the dream, after all this time. I can run from almost anything that chases me, and the one thing that I really _**want**_ to outrun has to be something as immaterial as memories. My own, no less.

"Niki?"

A voice cuts through my inner musings, and I whirl to face it with another gasp. A handsome human face greets me; skin as pale as my own that shimmers in any kind of light, a black mess of hair that runs all the way to the top of his jacket collar and droops into his eyes, his eyes of the most beautiful and – somehow – _**least**_ dull gray I have ever seen, staring up at me in confusion and concern.

Even though I have already come to the conclusion that I am not in any danger, the sight of Kiba just kind of…_**cements**_ that claim. Seeing him, for some reason, makes the belief real, even though I have already seen my brother, my rock for my entire life.

I have the inexplicably urge to curl up next to Kiba instead, to ask _**him**_ to hold me and, most shockingly, to tell him of the horrors I have seen and experienced.

_You can't_, I chastise myself. _You need to trust him fully before you do that._

"Niki, what's wrong?"

That voice isn't Kiba's, and I turn back to my brother, lying on the floor and blinking sleep out of his eyes as he makes the same expression that Kiba has. Unlike Kiba's, however, understanding dawns in Hige's comforting brown eyes that flick once to Kiba, reminding himself of his presence.

"Did you see them again?" he asks gently, soothingly. I nod once, feeling pathetic, like a cub sidling up to its mother after being frightened by shadows and their own imagination.

If only those nightmares were imaginary. If only I could say that they weren't real. If only I didn't relive the entire experience – the sights, the sounds, the fear, the _**pain**_ – every single time I had that dream…

Thankfully I am broken out of my spiral into panic as I feel a tug on my wrist. Focussing once again on Hige, I see him smiling gently at me, trying to pull me back down into his lap. I smile half-heartedly back and nestle myself against him again as he cradles the back of my head.

"I won't let you get hurt again," he whispers, pressing his face into my hair and – in a very human gesture – kisses it.

We stay like that for what seems like forever; just the two of us, like it has been for so many years. Then I feel Hige move, and realise he's looking up past me. Turning my head to follow my gaze, I duck my head sheepishly as I become conscious of the fact that Kiba has witnessed that whole exchange. The look of confused sympathy on his beautiful face is almost too much for me to stay silent.

"When she trusts you, Kiba," Hige promises, making the decision for me. He's saying that I'll tell him what my dreams are about when I trust him fully. He's right, of course, but I can't help the thought from entering my mind:

_What if he doesn't like me after I tell him what happened?_

I shake the thought from my head, worried about the strange depression that that might surprisingly lead to, and decide to wait and see when the time comes.

Kiba nods, seemingly understanding my position, and I'm honoured and flattered when I see no curiosity in his eyes, just worry.

Returning my gaze to my brother, I nod to the outside with my head.

"You're right," he agrees, setting me on my feet. "It's sunrise, so we can start making a move now."

And so, our journey begins.

**Hey, guys. So I couldn't get this thought out of my head, and you know me and my bad habit of getting things down, starting new fanfics before I've finished older ones. I kind of took one look at Kiba and…ahem…kind of fell in love with him…. I just always thought he looked so lonely, so I wanted to give him someone. Someone of his own. Let me know what you think, anyway.**

**Fly on,**

**NitnatRide**


	2. Freedom

**Chapter 2: Freedom**

**Niki's POV**

"Uh-oh," my brother pulls a face as he sticks his head out of a manhole cover. "Must have taken a wrong turn."

The metal ladder rung makes a ringing noise as my head connects with it, a heavy sigh escaping my mouth. Below me, Kiba snarls quietly. Looking down at him to communicate our shared frustration, I roll my eyes. My brother suddenly stiffens.

"Hey, hey!" he calls joyfully. "It's one of our own!"

Curious as to the identity of this wolf and still cross with Hige, I relish in him crying out and toppling over as I push him out of the way, climbing up the rest of the ladder and glaring at him. Kiba follows close behind.

"That's the last time I trust _**your**_ nose," he growls.

Hige scowls defensively. "Well, anybody's nose would go numb after a night in that stink-hole!"

Whilst they're having their little spat, I study the surprised-looking wolf. In wolf form, a beautiful auburn colour and no older than fifteen, he has these three strange metal bangles on his front right leg. Scattered and upturned trashcans around him suggest that he was just eating whatever crap was in those things. He stares at us three, caught off-guard.

"You guys?" a young boy's voice speaks, almost to himself. "No way. Y-you're…."

Kiba simply looks at him before glancing at a point behind the wolf. All of us follow his gaze, and the new wolf and I gasp in surprise as we see a young human girl, her arms full of shopping and staring straight at the new wolf. When his eyes lock onto her, he speaks again.

"Leera," he calls softly.

At his movement and voice, the girl starts to shake in fear. Scowling in confusion, I tense in anticipatory defence.

_Something's not right here._

Most humans dismiss us as big dogs. But this one seems to know something more. To know him. And the fact that he referred to her by name…. Don't tell me this kid revealed himself to this human.

The boy's voice sounds again.

"Don't be scared. I won't do anything. I just wanted to see you again. I'm so sorry…about your bird." His ears and head lower in sadness and in a non-threatening way.

She responds, but not as he hopes. "Daddy?" she whispers, but her voice grows. "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?!"

With each word, I tense more, and by the time she screams, I just catch the new wolf jump in fear as I launch myself off the ground and forward, picking my brother and Kiba up by their jackets to speed our escape.

"Come quick, it's the wolf!" her retreating voice shouts. "The wolf is here!"

Luckily the kid is smart enough to be running right behind us. As the fastest, I hurtle around a corner and launch straight into a pipe that leads back to the sewers. I hear Kiba and Hige do the same, but the other wolf takes his time following, possibly unsure of which pipe we've used. I pause and look back, and the others do the same, tense as the girl's voice gets closer. She suddenly gasps.

"Why, Leera?" the boy demands. "Why did you scream?"

She whimpers. "No, stay away! There's-there's something wrong with you. You're not normal. How can anyone ever trust you?"

"Leera, please," the kid begs, and I hear him take a few steps. "I only showed you so that you _**could**_ trust me."

I raise my eyebrows. Man, I get it that he's only young and she's a cute girl, but a stunt like that was ridiculous.

"Don't get any closer!"

"Why?" he says angrily. "Didn't you come here to catch me?"

She girl suddenly screams, and the sound of her falling echoes faintly down the pipe.

Hige silently agrees with me that enough's enough, and sticks his head out of the pipe.

"Come on!" he urges the wolf, and after a pause he follows us.

Kiba leads us further through the pipe and into the sewers. I follow behind him, the kid brings up the rear in the far back, looking solemn. Hige comforts the wolf with his usual charm.

"Hey, runt, what's eating you?"

The kid scowls impressively, but it does nothing to mature his child-like face. "I'm not a runt! My name's Toboe."

"Well, that's cool," my brother continues as if he'd said nothing wrong before. "I'm Hige, this is my sister Niki and that there's Kiba. Don't be surprised if Niki doesn't speak to you for a while though; she has trust issues."

I'm still not sure, after all these years, if I agree with the phrase "trust issues" or not. But, blunt as my brother is, he at least gets the message across.

I don't think Toboe knows how to reply to that advice, so he moves onto an easier topic of conversation. "Where are we headed, anyway?"

"Where do you think?" Hige snorts. "To the exit, of course."

"To the exit?" The concept seems foreign to the young wolf.

"We're leaving town," Kiba speaks up for the first time since the whole incident.

"You're leaving town? But where else are you gonna go?"

"To paradise," the white wolf responds with certainty and reverence.

"Paradise…." Toboe mulls over the word before slowing to a stop.

"Hey, guys," he calls, and we all stop to look at him. "Do you know Tsume?"

Kiba echoes the unfamiliar name to himself while I shake my head and my brother responds in the negative.

"Is he the one with the scar on his chest?" Kiba asks.

At the description, Toboe brightens up considerably. "Yeah!" he responds enthusiastically. "That's Tsume alright!"

"Okay, what about him?"

_Oooh, did the temperature just drop in here?_

I raise my eyebrows at Kiba, but he ignores me and just looks at Toboe. From the flat and hostilely indifferent tone, I'd say that Kiba and this Tsume guy didn't part on great terms. Obviously Toboe knows a different side of him that Kiba never met. Although, given what we've seen of the young wolf already, it's possible that he's just delusional about Tsume's character.

Toboe doesn't share my faint amusement at Kiba's tone; his face falls, discouraged by the iciness.

"He's one of us so I thought he'd want to leave too," he explains, smaller and quieter than before.

His crestfallen look is like a knife to my heart. Despite how tough he acts, he's still just a kid, not much older than I was on that horrible night, and he just wants company, friends. I may have just silently criticised his youthful mistakes, but really I'm furious at myself; I had the very same naïveté, and it's what got me in this mess in the first place. Looking at him is like looking in a mirror that reflects the past, and I want to scream: _Don't be fooled! Please, just grow up and learn how bad the world is the peaceful way, before it's too late! They're coming for you!_

But I don't. Can't, or I would start sobbing for all the things that have been ripped from me.

My inner struggle goes unnoticed by those around me, the fact bringing both a lot and little comfort simultaneously, as Kiba and Toboe stay silent and my brother simply turns fully to the younger wolf.

"Well, I don't know him," he repeats. "Where is he, hiding out someplace?"

Kiba turns away as Hige speaks, and I watch him bend down to examine the floor directly beneath the open grate that leads to the street surface while listening to the conversation.

"I don't know," Toboe replies, saddened. "We got split up."

"Sorry, pal, but it's too late to go back for him now." My brother doesn't actually sound very sorry, but Kiba seems interested in what he's found, so I step closer to see. The spots of blood on the floor grab my attention, too, and a slight breeze to my nose confirms that it's wolf blood. Kiba and I share a look of communication without a message, and I raise my eyebrows in question.

'_What do you think about it? What do you want to do?'_

"So, what, is he, like, a friend of yours?" Hige asks.

Toboe answers sharply and immediately. "No, he's not!" His voice suddenly quietens again, returning to the sad tone. "He isn't my friend."

My eyebrows scrunch in sympathy for the young wolf as my previous theory is confirmed.

Hige doesn't share my empathy. "So, ditch him already," he shrugs carelessly, turning away from the younger wolf to carry on walking, straight past where Kiba and I are.

Frowning at my brother's back, I marvel once again, as I have many times, at how peaceful it must be to live in his simple world.

"Shake a leg, runt," he goads.

"That's Toboe!" the target reacts sharply.

I look back to Kiba again and he nods at me. Reading his intent in his eyes, I step aside as he rises, and he passes in front of me to walk quickly to the front of the group again, leading us in the direction he wants.

Hige seemingly automatically falls back as Kiba passes, and lets him take the lead once more. I smile at the symbolism.

_A small and mismatched pack we may be, but we still have a pack leader._

The city passes above us as we walk mostly in silence. Hige frowns in confusion when Kiba starts to ascend a ladder back to street level some time later, but I nod encouragingly at him before following the white wolf, and the other two clatter onto the ladder soon after.

My eyes search restlessly around us as Kiba leads us surely into a more abandoned part of town. The buildings loom like empty, lifeless trees, their solid and angular shadows among the darkness as ambiguous and terrifying as the mess of branches of trees in the same conditions. The fallen debris of the ruins could hide all sorts of dark creatures, and I keep my senses sharp. See, while my brother boasts of his superior sense of smell, I have the best hearing that either of us has ever known from anyone. At the slightest scuffling in the shadows, my eyes, nose, attention and defence are focussed in that direction until we pass the area and are a good distance away from it. I routinely but quickly check that we aren't being followed either, but my ears tell me that the noises are made by different and non-threatening creatures.

But not too much later, a different sound reaches my ear; a larger creature shifting minutely in the ruin we're approaching. A wolf, no doubt, given the blood that Kiba found and his intention he communicated with me back in the sewer. I tense myself for this meeting; I have seen two very different opinions formed of him – from Toboe and from Kiba – and I'm not sure which one is more accurate. I refuse to think that either of them had the full picture, however; if each came to opposite conclusions then there must be some truth in each perspective.

Toboe and Hige both seem to be clueless to our objective, looking around with apprehensive confusion. Neither complain when we enter into the building though instead of passing by it. Just before Kiba opens the door, I hear a gasp as the wolf on the other side leaps to his feet.

_Too late to run now, stranger._

I follow Kia through the door, prepared for the following scene. The wolf is on his feet, as I heard, and in human form. His human body is gripped by dangerous-looking black leather, ripped at his shoulders. Just as in Kiba's description, a huge cross scar marks his chest. In the dim light I can just about make out the cold gold of his narrowed eyes, and his white hair sticks up as a sharp point. Through my wolf eyes, his true form stands as a large imposing wolf of an unfeeling slate colour.

Altogether, not the most approachable appearance.

Somehow completely missing his scent, my brother gives his best first impression:

"What a crap heap. Why the hell did you bring us here?" he says looking disdainfully at our surroundings.

The kid catches on pretty quick though, recognising this stranger from a glimpse from behind Hige.

"Tsume!" he cries out joyfully.

"You," Tsume hisses in a less welcoming tone, his deep voice gravelly and as rough as his predicted personality.

Hige's head flicks back and forth between the two of them. "Wha–? Hey, is this him?"

Kiba had been ignoring them in their interaction, and before the kid can respond, he speaks to Tsume.

"I could smell the blood from your wound."

"What?" Tsume's hostile gaze flicks to the white wolf.

"I smelt it all the way here from town."

Tsume's fists clench. "And you're gonna nurse me back to health?" he snarls sarcastically. "Well, I don't need your help."

I roll my eyes at his attitude. _Oh, great; a tough guy. This is gonna be fun._

Toboe won't give up though. "Tsume, look, I…." He looks down, unsure of how what to say, then continues softly. "We're leaving the city. I really think you should come with us."

_Makes one of us, kid._

"And just where is this merry band of yours going?" Tsume sneers.

"To paradise," Kiba says with the same level but firm and reverent tone I've heard him use before.

Infuriatingly, Tsume snorts. "You're kidding me. You're going with them because you believe in that crap?"

My nostrils flare as I glare a hole in the asshole's head. 'That crap' just happens to be the story that every wolf is told from as soon as they can understand it. I wouldn't be surprised if every single one of our kind knew that wolves were said to be the ones to open the gate to paradise. And this douche just spat in the face of one of the main things a wolf should be proud of. And can he not see Kiba with his own eyes? Surely I'm not the only one to see it? But then I remember something Hige told me a while ago, that not all wolves were told the full legend, that not all of us would be able to recognise the one when we saw them. That still doesn't excuse this asshole, but it makes more sense, I guess.

Through all my musings, Toboe replies something about living with humans, but I wasn't concentrating enough to be able to process it properly. None of us makes a reply though, until Hige ducks by the window.

"Look, I hate to interrupt, but a nasty stink is headed this way."

Tsume joins him to peer out the hole in the wall. "We're surrounded," he reports.

"Let me ask you," Kiba addresses the whole room, ignoring the threat outside, "why did you guys come to this city? It was because of the flower scent, wasn't it? Well, it's gone now. There's no reason to stay."

Gazing around, I see the others remembering their arrivals, too, their faraway expressions focussing on memories. Regarding my brother but not meeting his eye, I recall the relief we both felt; after running, fleeing and searching for so long, the smell of lunar flowers – a naturally and instinctively comforting smell to wolves – drew us in like a sheltered burrow in a blizzard. But neither of us did anything about it; we knew we weren't the ones.

But Tsume stubbornly refuses to give up. "The flower has nothing to do with it. I'm here because I belong."

"I can see that," Kiba allows. "This city is a dump."

As Tsume's aggressive gaze lands on Kiba, mine flicks to him, too, but he ignores me.

_Kiba, I don't like the guy either, but that really isn't helping._

"I still have a score to settle with you," Tsume threatens, skulking closer to Kiba.

"We don't have time for this!" Luckily my brother follows my train of thought and tries in vain to defuse the challenge sparking between these two idiots. He may as well have not spoken, and he glances nervously between the two of them as they continue their exchange.

"The last time we spoke you said something about how your pride wouldn't let you pass off as a human," Tsume accuses, and I can see Kiba thinking that way from what I know of him already. "Well, you look pretty human now. Where did your pride go?"

Kiba's expression doesn't change, thankfully not rising to the fight Tsume presents. "Nowhere. Nothing has changed."

Tsume decides to leave that subject and try for an attack from a different direction. "Do you have the slightest idea what will happen if you leave the city?"

"Yeah," Kiba says firmly.

But Tsume's not convinced as his eyes narrow and he snarls, "You'll just die!"

Kiba is unconcerned. "Possibly," he admits easily, and I glance at him in slight shock. "Everyone's gonna die; it's a natural part of life. But if life has no purpose you're dead already."

I'd only vaguely been aware of the possibility of dying should I decide to follow Kiba, as aware of my fragility as every day of my life. But to have even the leader of our pack confess a weakness in his confidence, somehow makes it more real.

_No_, my mind stop me as I survey his face. _It's not a weakness in his confidence._ His face shows no regret nor fear of what's to come. He _**is**_ completely confident. He just accepts that death could loom its ugly head on our quest. That complete and utter acceptance allows him to be prepared for anything and to do anything to reach his destination.

I frown at that thought as it induces another one. _How far will he go? If it were necessary, would he abandon or even kill one of us to get to Paradise?_

My frown deepens in worry as I can't answer that question immediately. His driven determination to search for and find Paradise has impressed and inspired me right from the start, and I've had no reason to doubt his loyalty to his kind and his friends yet, but I haven't been with him for very long. If each of those qualities are pitted against each other, which one will win? I guess we'll just have to wait and see, and be wary in the meantime.

His revelation about the meaning of life leaves us all stunned and at least partially convinced. But the enemies below give us no time to contemplate, argue or discuss as a blinding light flares in through the window. Shielding our eyes for a split second as they adjust, we each duck to avoid the shower of offensive metal that peppers the walls as the humans start to fire on us. I have no idea why they're here in the first place, but that doesn't matter; we're leaving anyway, so all we have to do is outrun them. A grin spreads across my face at the challenge. 'Outrunning' is what I do best.

Hige calls my name to check if I'm safe, more out of brotherly love and habit than actual belief that the bullets might have hit me. I leap nimbly over to the other side of the room and tap him on the shoulder to signal that I'm fine before immediately leaping away again and follow Kiba out the door. The footsteps behind me tell me the others are following none-too-reluctantly, and we all split off running down different levelled pipes. It's better if we give the humans more targets to shoot at, and I may be enjoying flipping and jumping through the rare bullet-spray that might catch up with me a little too much. I just have to trust that Kiba knows this is the right way out, and after a few glances around to get my bearings in the city, I know that it is, from my many trips outside the wall to scupper the Nobles' deliveries.

The others aren't faring quite as well as me, being a bit slower. I thought they'd still be alright though, and scans of the surrounding sounds confirm that Hige and Kiba are, but at that moment, I hear Toboe cry out and some metal groan. I pause, glancing back, and see him hanging from a piece of metal that won't support his weight for very long, and it doesn't look like he can hold on long either. Tsume, the closest one to the kid, heard the same thing though, and he's now headed towards him, reaching down to grab him with his teeth and pulls him up. Smiling at how the kid is safe now and at who his saviour was, I continue running.

_Tough guy, huh?_

"Thank you," I hear Toboe gasp over the spattering of bullets around me.

"Go on, hurry up," Tsume growls.

"You're really not coming with us?" Toboe sounds heart-broken as Tsume doesn't reply.

Their footsteps begin again, but Tsume's pause for a second then continue. He's probably jumped from one pipe to another. The kid's cry of his name as he moves from running with him to running on a different path confirms my theory.

I'm not exactly a big fan of the guy coming with us, but I hope that he's not going to stay here; the humans have seen his face now, and they'll only continue hunting him down. Whatever he had here, he's most likely lost it all now.

Finally we reach some ruins, which means the humans can't just run or drive alongside us; the walls on the ground floor impede their pursuit in a way that few walls can for us. We spring and jump and skip and hop over every gap onto every beam and building we see in our path, and I relish the freedom to use my natural power once more. All these years hiding in this city, using delivery raids as a way to release all the longing for openness, and now I can finally let go. Not only that, but feel like I belong doing everything that I can do around others; my own kind.

But before we're out of the ruins, a sound makes me freeze in surprise to look down the tunnel where it's coming from. Footsteps. And not a human's footsteps. Ones that I heard behind me not a few minutes ago. Kiba has stopped too, and given that my hearing is better than his, I have no idea how he knows.

_Yes, you do_, my mind counters. _He's the one. He just _**knows**.

The other two don't hear it either, and Hige apparently doesn't smell him because he exclaims at the two of us:

"What the hell are you stopping for?"

Neither of us answers, and a few seconds later a familiar figure storms out of the tunnel.

"Tsume!" Toboe cries out joyfully.

The wolf in question merely stops and scowls at all of us, Kiba in particular, as if daring to rub his presence in his face, daring to make him eat his words. But Kiba simply stares back a moment longer before calling out, "This way!"

Tsume springs forward to avoid the bullets raining at his feet, and we jump up a column of a building to gain access to the upper level and continue running along it, now well out of the view of the humans.

At last, we reach the edge of the wall, and Kiba jumps straight off it onto a ruin lower down on the outside, completely oblivious to the defining moment of my life. I've been in this city and played by its rules for years now, and this wall was keeping me in in more ways than one. A part of me wants to pause at its edge to prepare myself for the freedom of overstepping it. Another part wants me to leave this whole place behind me and not look back, preparation be damned. As in many important moments in my life, Hige is on a similar wavelength, and reaches out to grab my hand, still running full pelt, and grins at me, eager anticipation and unconditional support in his eyes. I take his hand gratefully, and smile in return, nodding once before we both launch ourselves off the wall, landing perfectly.

Toboe isn't quite as confident, and he stops, uncertain, at the edge. My brother doesn't share his concern.

"Jump already!" he yells up to him.

An indignant reply comes: "I was getting ready to, alright?"

"Move it," Tsume doesn't allow for him to 'get ready' and simply kicks him off the wall. The young wolf cries out before landing rather painfully on the ground.

But Tsume doesn't follow.

A bullet strikes the floor by his feet, but he doesn't even flinch. I frown, and not because the wolf is being stubborn. Where did that shot come from? We're out of view of the humans who were chasing us.

"Tsume, what are you waiting for? Come on, jump!" Toboe calls.

Another bullet misses narrowly. Who is firing? I swing myself onto a higher ledge and tense up before Hige stops me.

"No, Niki, don't go back up there!"

Reading the concern in his eyes and considering the fact that there is actually someone firing up there, I relent, pushing my confusion and curiosity from my mind.

Tsume still hasn't moved, and so Kiba tries a new angle.

"Are you scared?" he asks quietly, but I know the wolf will hear. The sincerity, placation and lack of judgement in his voice makes me gaze at him in wonder after the hostility I've seen him harbour towards the grey wolf. But the latter responds in much the way I expect after a short pause.

"Yeah, you wish," he snorts before jumping from the wall to join us.

As soon as he lands, Kiba starts running again, and we all follow him into the snow. The wind bites in the open space more than within the city confines, but as I look back at the slowly fading scene, I grin in victory and excitement.

_Sorry, boys; I've got better places to be._

**Yay, chapter 2! Finally! Sorry it's taken me so long, but I hope it was worth the wait. If you want me to write more, please leave a review! Check out my other stuff, too, if you're interested.**

**Fly on,**

**NitnatRide**


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